Our cat, Banjo, one day yowled out in the kitchen. He, for some inexplicable reason, had bitten his own tail. He bit it rather badly and bled pretty profusely off and on. I tried cleaning it and bandaging it, he pulled it off. I bandaged it again and added two layers of duct tape over and up his tail. He chewed a hole in it. I added another layer of duct tape as I had to leave for work. He pulled the whole contraption off. We tried to make a cone of shame. That was a very large failure. Now the last two inches of his tail is, well, hard, but he's leaving it alone for the moment. That is unless I mess with it, then he growls and stares at it like it's a mouse, and will worry bite, and lick it.

So, I can't take him to the vet as exterminating the bed bugs and car breakdowns have left us deciding which bills to pay. I'll probably be reduced to using my phone only soon because cable will be the first to go. Any suggestions from our cat servant posters or vet posters? We love this cat and have lost many animal companions in the last two years due to old age, but he's young and otherwise healthy. Though apparently sort of ditsy.

Try using something like this off brand Coban tape instead of the duct tape. It's much lighter, not sticky at all (it adheres to only itself) and pretty hard to chew though. It's also fairly waterproof, and can still allow the poor critter some movement/flexibility so long as you only wrap the area once or twice. If you think immobilization the area might be a better idea, a few more wraps will get you that as well. Just make sure to try it on yourself first - if you way over stretch the tape when applying it, it can act like a compress, and that doesn't sound like something the kitty would like or need.

As an aside, this stuff is also amazing for using on people, especially if you have to try and keep a bandage on a part of you (fingers, elbows, etc) in motion. My doctor's office uses it (sadly, humans don't get the cool colors).

I had a cat some years ago who actually chewed the tip off his own tail.

To stop him continuing on down it until there was no tail left, I wound up getting some bitter almond oil -- probably there are other strong-flavored oils that would also work; I think at one point I was using cinnamon oil. Any place with a good selection of spices should have some; it comes, IME, in tiny little bottles with droppers. Do not, repeat do not, get any on the wound itself. Put a couple of drops -- no more -- on the fur right near the wound, so that if the cat puts his mouth on the tail he'll have to taste it.

The first time I did this to the cat in question, he ran around the house frothing at the mouth for about five minutes, and I was terrified that I'd poisoned him, though I think I'd consulted with the vet. first. After that, he would start to bite the tail, smell the oil, and pull back before biting. If I saw him starting to actually bite, I'd know it had worn off, and would put a couple more drops on.

The tail healed up fine on its own; I didn't try to bandage it. The cat lived for years after that. I kept the bottle of oil around, and if I noticed him starting to chew, I'd go back to using it for a few days; but once the tail had healed he was mostly OK without it.

Thank you both for your advice. I swear some spots in my house looked like a crime scene. I should be able to find that oil somewhere, and I believe that sort of bandage is actually available at dollar general, just in case he decides to "decorate" the house again like a scene out of CSI.

I think it would be worth a try. I'm pretty sure I used cinnamon oil some of the time as it was easier to find than bitter almond. Bitter orange might well work; I think it's not only the flavor but the strength of it that's the issue -- trying to use any of those things too close to full force would taste awful to humans, also; they're supposed to get hugely diluted.

It should be something being sold to be added to food, though. And I'd avoid anything specifically known to be toxic to cats. -- though I just looked, and apparently cinnamon oil is on the feline toxicity list, though they don't seem worried about tiny bits of regular cinnamon. The cat didn't wind up taking in any significant amount of the oil, however, even on the first round.

You might also consider getting some liquid bandage. Shave or cut the hair around the wound as short as possible, and paint it on. I had a cat with a large ringworm lesion on his cheek, on whom I had tried everything I could, get better when I totally covered the lesion with that stuff.